Sporting events and other large events attract many avid spectators hungry for timely, detailed information about the progress of the event. Some events are sufficiently compact, and the significant activities are sufficiently localized, that all spectators can have an essentially complete view of any interesting happenings.
Other events, however, have sizes or complexities that make it difficult for the spectators to continuously directly observe all of the “action” in which they may be interested.
An automobile race is often a good example of such an event. Much spectator interest is, of course, directed to the leading vehicle and driver. Because the race cars move so quickly, the leading vehicle will be near any particular spectator for only a brief period during each lap. Depending on the size and geometry of the track, factors such as structures, spectator seating facilities, topography, and distance can prevent a spectator from clearly viewing the leading vehicle during a substantial fraction of the lap.
Interesting activity may occur in places other than the vicinity of the leading vehicle. Some of these locations may be out of the spectator's field of view. For example, a driver passing another, a passing attempt rebuffed by skillful action of another driver, a vehicle entering or leaving the pit lane, a vehicle being serviced in the pits, and a collision, are all events in which a spectator may be keenly interested but which she or he may not have an opportunity to observe directly. Several such events can occur simultaneously, so although a spectator may be able to observe nearby action, the spectator may be unaware of action occurring elsewhere. Further, simultaneous interesting events may occur in bursts separated by periods of little interesting activity, such that when action occurs, the spectator necessarily misses some of it.
In addition to direct visual observation, spectators are keenly interested in factual and statistical data concerning the event, and in other modalities of observation that might be available. For example, spectators generally want to know the relative positions of the various vehicles/drivers. Accordingly, race tracks conventionally provide a scoreboard that displays the position of the leading vehicles or all vehicles. Other events have similar displays. A disadvantage of a scoreboard, leader board, or the like, is that there is a limited amount of visible area on the scoreboard, so not all of the information in which spectators are interested can be displayed. A further disadvantage is that at large events, many spectators may have obstructed views of the scoreboard.
Spectators are also interested in eavesdropping on communications between drivers and their pit crews, which are typically conducted via radio. Accordingly, some spectators have used known radio receivers for such eavesdropping, and at least one company has marketed to race enthusiasts a scanner-type radio receiver which was preprogrammed with frequencies typically used for such communications. A disadvantage of using a scanner-type radio is that such devices are relatively bulky and expensive, and the spectator may have no other use for such a device. In addition, it is believed that some race teams have adopted digital radio technologies, and perhaps encryption technologies, to avoid such eavesdropping and limit distribution of driver-to-pit-crew communications to authorized media outlets.
Race spectators are also known to use conventional portable television and radio receivers to receive broadcast media coverage of races. Television broadcasters are known to distribute a variety of live, near-real-time, and recorded content, including: video images of the race in overview and close-up; video images from cameras mounted in vehicles; still images derived from video; graphical images showing aspects of the race track or the race in schematic form or enhancing camera-derived images or video to improve understanding; factual and statistical data concerning the race, race series, drivers, and teams; driver-to-crew audio; commentary; and the like. Radio broadcasters are known to distribute a subset of this content appropriate for an audio-only distribution medium.
Although many of these broadcast services may be useful to the spectator, they present several disadvantages. First, broadcast media, by their nature, attempt to appeal to the broadest cross-section of consumers. Automobile racing enthusiasts are known for their loyalty to favorite drivers. Many fans would be interested in consuming all possible content concerning their favorite drivers or teams, regardless of whether such drivers or teams are in the lead. Broadcast services tend to focus on the leading driver and perhaps on drivers who have captured the attention of the general public, but not necessarily on the drivers or teams in whom any particular spectator is interested. Broadcast services also tend to furnish a variety of different content during a race, which may include live video, audio, graphics, interviews, and commentary, but many consumers are likely to be dissatisfied with the broadcaster-selected mix of content, at certain times, or all the time. Some spectators might prefer to view in-car-camera video all the time, while others might prefer to view activities in the pit area, while others may prefer statistical information, while still others would prefer a topical mix of content regarding their favorite driver.
Further, broadcast content is generally designed to be viewed on a larger display, such as a normal-sized television, and some content, particularly graphical or text content, cannot be satisfactorily viewed on the display of a small portable television receiver of the type that would be conveniently carried by a spectator to a race. Of course, some devices, such as radio, do not provide a display for broadcast content at all.
A number of commercially-available portable wireless devices, including wireless “telephone” handsets designed to work in cellular- and PCS-type wireless networks, and a variety of small personal productivity devices with the capability of accessing wireless networks, are now equipped to display content of a number of media types, including video, audio, text, and graphics. Known wireless networks have the capability of delivering content of at least these types to portable wireless devices.
Known wireless networks have so far been arranged to deliver either a near-real-time stream of content obtained from a conventional broadcast media source, or, upon subsequent user request, various content recorded from a conventional broadcast media source. A spectator could, theoretically, attempt to use a portable wireless device to access conventional broadcast media coverage of an event. Although a portable wireless device may be more convenient than a portable television for a spectator to carry, the spectator would still experience the aforementioned disadvantages of receiving content from a conventional broadcast media source.
Although the disadvantages of known information and content delivery systems heretofore have been discussed in the environment of an automobile race, spectators at a variety of other events of significant size or complexity could experience like disadvantages. For example, these disadvantages would likewise be experienced by spectators of other sporting events, such as the Olympic games, and of other activities, such as the launch of a space vehicle, political conventions and other large meetings, festivals of music, arts, or other entertainment, and the like.
Thus, a need exists for a system to acquire content related to a spectator event, in various media types, and to deliver a consumer-selected set of such content to a portable wireless device equipped for accessing wireless telecommunications networks.